The musings, rants, and dissertations of 3 retired military guys and 1 chick. Two Air Force, two Navy. Old AF Sarge, Juvat, Tuna, & LUSH.

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Yesterday Was What?

My Labor Day Celebration

So yesterday was Labor Day.It's not a big holiday in my book, it's just a day off, a long weekend and sort of thelast weekend of summer. (Technically not, Fall begins later, but more on that, you guessed it, later.)My next door neighbor had his relatives over, they had a cookout, they played in the pool and generally reveled in each other's company. In a quiet and most civilized way.From what I've observed in my 16 years dwelling in this locale, I have very good neighbors. They tend to be quiet and non-annoying. Something I treasure.I presume that my neighbor will close his pool next weekend at the latest. While the weather is still glorious, it is trending towards a bit of a chill at night. Besides which that's what pool people (in this area of the world) do after Labor Day, close their pools. Probably better to do it while the weather is still good.With The Missus Herself out California way, it's just me and the feline staff here at Chez Sarge. Well, the koi and the gold fish are there, but they're not very interactive. Oh, they'll surface when they see one of their humans bearing food. Normally though they just sort of swim around and do fishy things.So, I announced to the cats that we would have a big Labor Day celebration today. They viewed my announcement with a certain lack of enthusiasm. Admittedly, I had no firm plans for the day except water the plants I have been directed to water, clean the litter box and attempt to cook pasta. Not all at the same time mind you.Anyhoo, with the total absence of fervor on the part of my companion animals as regards the late celebration of labor, I decided to spend the day in quiet reflection.Along with doing the aforementioned chores.I did watch a couple of good movies via Netflix, I may discuss those at some future date. POCIR. Other than that it was a quiet day.I am still recuperating and, of course, every time I think everything is hunky dory, I'll get some wee tinge of pain to remind me to settle down and obey the doctor's orders. Today was a bit more painful than usual. I blame the drive to the airport and back on Sunday morn. There and back again is 50 miles.Seems my belly is not friends with Mr. Seatbelt right now. It's too tight and sits in a bad place. I reckon if I got into an accident Mr. Seatbelt would probably save my life and put me back in the hospital to repair my belly again. So there's that.At any rate, after I had finished watering the plants I had been directed to water, I decided that, to honor the holiday, that I would have an Adult Beverage, shown in the opening photo. Hhmm, perhaps next time I will focus on the bottle and not the background. Just noticed that the bottle was a bit fuzzy. As was I, those Belgian brews are a bit strong and I am not used to strong drink at the moment.Now that bit I mentioned in the second paragraph? Yes, it is now officially later, so let's discuss the seasons, rather, how I mark the seasons. Yes, while there is the official "well the sun is now directly overhead here, therefore...." Blah. Blah. Blah.I mark the seasons thusly...The Summer is June, July and August, for those months (in my youth) were always associated with summer vacation from school. Now as there are four seasons and twelve months, each season must necessarily consist of three months.So Fall, again on the Sarge Calendar, consists of September, October and November. Sure, the beginning of September is rather summer-like in Little Rhody (most of the time) but in the more northerly clime of my youth, September was a chilly month. Not really summer. Though truth be told, I've seen temperatures in the 30s in August (at night) up north but that's an exception.So Winter, drum roll please, begins for me in December. Christmas being a winter holiday, and my favorite holiday, I have often spent all of December celebrating Christmas. I know, I know, Home Depot, Walmart and other such retail outfits start putting out Christmas stuff before Halloween, but I don't run those. They have their schedule, I have mine.So Winter equals December, January and February. I reckon one could make a pretty good argument for including March in that accounting but there are days in March when you begin to feel that Spring is coming. So March stays in Spring.Yes, Spring, March, April and May. March is still kind of cold but winter loses its grip on fair Little Rhody round about then. Sure May is starting to see some summer-like days but still and all very spring-like.So that's that.As to Labor Day, I get the premise and once, long ago, I was actually in a labor union. It did protect me from bad management. Too bad they couldn't protect bad management from themselves. Stupid bastards, all the fine companies that employed folks in my hometown back in the day are all gone. Probably moved to effing China for all I know.Sigh. Perhaps I should have had another beer.Nah, don't want to mess up the recovery process.Now excuse me, I need to go put away all my white outfits. (I hear that seersucker is also verboten after Labor Day. Leastwise that's the way high society rolls. So I'm told.)

When I were a lad there were two seasons, school and summer. I've learned a bit more over the years. I'm still mildly disappointed that it continues (generally) to get colder in January and February when the days are getting longer, and that it continues (generally) to get hotter in July and August when the days are getting shorter. What's up with that?

The fish stay in place for the winter. One end of the pond is three feet deep, the ice on the pond seldom gets thicker than 4 inches (knock on wood he said while tapping on his noggin). When the cold weather comes the fish go deep and go dormant. All I need to do is clear a small hole in the ice so that the water can "breathe." We take the pump out before the first freeze and replace it with an aerator, which keeps the oxygen levels up.

March is spring. Because, even if 12 inches of snow are dumped you know it is going to melt soon.The days are noticeably longer. You can feel that the sun has strength.Where it shines steady the ice and snow melt.And the biggest reason. It is not Feburary anymore.